Piaget

What is it?

Developmental psychology-is the study of human development and how humans
develop in terms of identity, ideals and a number of different aspects of the self
throughout life.

What is developmental psychology?

Developmental psychology is a discipline that revolves around how human
beings change over time. This field encompasses the lifespan of individuals,
and areas of investigation include adolescence, identity theory, and
attachment. Both biological and environmental factors are known to be factors
of influence. Conflicting theories exist in this discipline, however, all attempt to
achieve to explain developmental attributes of people.

Piaget's Theory

Piaget is the founder of the study of developmental psychology

Children construct new knowledge by adapting old knowledge with their present
schemas

Egocentrism- The inability to see things from another’s perspective.

Saw children as largely independent in the construction of knowledge and ideas about
the world.

Classrooms now aim to provide stimulating environments in which children can
construct knowledge.

Jean Piaget’s Child Development Theory

This theory mainly deals with the maturation of
children, and how cognitive capacity increases
along with age. His focus and research are
explained in stages; that is children in Stage 1)
Sensorimotor Stage (age 0-2) begin to interact in
the environment, Stage 2) Preoperational Stage
(age 2-7) they begin to represent the world
symbolically, Stage 3) Concrete Operational Stage
(age 7-12) they learn rules such as conversation,
Stage 4) Formal Operational Stage (12-Adulthood)
the adolescent can transcend the concrete
situation and think about the future.

Summarization of Stages & Forms of
Adaption

Sensorimotor- Babies are born with innate reflexes (such as crying)

Preoperational- Young children expand symbolic thought

Concrete Operational- Children acquire logical operations- such as
mathematics

Formal Operational- Adolescents can think about abstract concepts

Assimilation- occurs when new events fit within an existing schema

Accommodation- when new events do not fit within an existing schema

Problems with Piaget's theory

Fails to emphasize the role of social support and culture

Assumptions are not backed by a great amount of evidence

Threat of bias present in the observations he did collect

studied his own children and the children of his colleagues in Geneva

Piaget failed to distinguish between competence and performance.